Attention has been paid to resistance change type memories such as a magnetoresistive random access memory (MRAM), a resistive RAM (ReRAM) and a phase change RAM (PCRAM), as next-generation semiconductor memories. Since the resistance change type memories enable relatively easy microfabrication of elements, an increase in storage density and a decrease in power consumption can be realized.
As regards the resistance change type memories, there has been a demand for reliability in data write and data read.